Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Reaches New 12-Month High Following Dividend Announcement

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $42.70 and last traded at $42.15, with a volume of 35647 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $42.29.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.1%. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GSL shares. Fearnley Fonds upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Global Ship Lease in a research report on Friday, April 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. B. Riley Financial raised their price target on Global Ship Lease from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Ship Lease currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.33.

Global Ship Lease Stock Down 1.3%

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $38.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 2.00.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The shipping company reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.01. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 22.35% and a net margin of 54.33%.The firm had revenue of $190.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $188.39 million. Global Ship Lease’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Georgios Giannopoulos sold 7,692 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.51, for a total transaction of $296,218.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in Global Ship Lease by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 23,127 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $810,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 77.2% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 989 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,827 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 2,179 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 83,650 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,568,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. 50.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Global Ship Lease Company Profile

Global Ship Lease (NYSE: GSL) is a Bermuda-based containership charter owner focused on acquiring, owning and leasing modern, fuel-efficient vessels to major liner operators. Founded in 2011 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange the same year, the company’s fleet primarily comprises post-Panamax containerships designed to serve the high-volume Asia–Europe and transpacific shipping lanes. By specializing in long-term charter agreements, Global Ship Lease aims to maintain stable revenue streams and minimize spot-market volatility.

The company’s business model centers on negotiating multi-year time charters with leading global shipping lines.